European Union

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European Union

In the European Union, enlargement, special arrangements for the expansion of the Schengen Area, and the gradual development of a stronger EU role in immigration have added new complexity to the policy landscape, leading to both new patterns of movement and new policies for governing immigration from outside of the European Union's 28 Member States. The research offered here focuses on migration policies, trends, and common challenges that affect Europe at a supranational level—from free movement to asylum policy and the management of EU borders.

As the European Union seeks to implement a Common European Asylum System, these publications and multimedia resources from MPI and MPI Europe examine asylum policy and humanitarian flows to Europe and elsewhere around the world.

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In the post-9/11 era, U.S. policymakers have increasingly used migration policy tools to strengthen national security. This piece highlights civil rights and liberties issues that point to the need to re-envision the relationship between security and mobility, and discusses a proposal to "secure human mobility."

Destination countries of unaccompanied child migrants struggle with many questions related to why children migrate, how they should be received and processed, and whether they should be protected, integrated, or returned to their home countries. Amanda Levinson of ThirdSpace Consulting provides the context within which unaccompanied child migration occurs, and analyzes the policy response of the United States and European destination countries.

When there's a will, there's a way — migrants seeking illegal entry have proven the old proverb true countless times as they and their smugglers have adapted to enforcement strategies. The latest development in the cat-and-mouse game comes not from the United States, but from Europe.

Although non-Irish nationals, particularly those from Eastern Europe, led the exodus, Irish nationals now make up a sizeable proportion of those leaving, and Greece appears poised to become a net exporter of people as well.

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Citizenship is a deeply sensitive issue for the European Union, and Member States hold dear their sovereign right to determine who should become a national. There has been strong resistance by Member States towards any discussion of citizenship acquisition at the EU level, despite some outré national policy changes in recent years. A decision by Malta’s government to sell 1,800 passports for 1.15 million euros apiece has caused unusual levels of furor, and this scheme may become the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

This report outlines the security-related challenges that borders are intended to address—including terrorism, human smuggling and trafficking, illegal migration, and drug trafficking—and, in turn, the perverse consequences that tighter border enforcement can generate. As states implement extensive border controls and deterrence measures to prevent illegal migration, they indirectly push unauthorized migrants into the hands of smugglers and traffickers.

This report analyzes mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) between countries, which allow professionals to transfer their skills and experiences across borders more effectively. The report, part of a series on the recognition of foreign credentials, evaluates existing MRAs and discusses the prospects for cooperation between the United States and the European Union.

This edited volume showcases approaches toward border management in Europe, Central America, and North America, and reflects on the challenges that countries in these regions face in managing their borders. The book brings together perspectives from both sides of the Atlantic on what border security means in practice, the challenges that continue to evade policymakers, and what policies have been the most (and least) successful in achieving “secure” borders.

This policy brief reviews the challenges that face the EU-wide social security coordination system. It argues that while improving the fairness, clarity, and public support for this system are difficult, even small concessions from the European Commission could provide an opportunity to showcase the elements that do work.

Immigrant-receiving countries have introduced a range of policies to improve the recognition of foreign qualifications. This report explores strategies for ensuring that qualified immigrants can contribute their training and talent to the labor force.

This report explains the basic structure of the engineering workforce, and the elements that influence the ability of engineers to move across borders. It examines recent efforts to address national differences in education and accreditation, and also considers how serious the barriers to international migration for engineers are in practice.